meeting for new/cool kids..

and remember its still only a tenner!

first open club night:

The first of many open v60 club nights happened last Sunday and it was a great night - Colin was crowned the v60 champ of the Clouds of August! - If you were unable to make it, you missed out! 

There will more but they will be more slightly more focused on other aspects of coffee brewing and tasting - I think that since we have finally located your taste buds we should put them to some good use!

There will be a chance for new members to join soon..

thanks to Niall Walker for getting in the way and taking these cool photos - http://niallwalkerblog.tumblr.com/

slurp slurp..

caffeine overdose sunday

The first open meeting is upon us.. this sunday in fact. 

I have written it as many other dates all over the place but what I have been meaning to say for the past 2 weeks is that its THIS sunday. 

sunday the twenty sixth of june

so if you haven't already emailed me already hop to it!

super.v60.club@gmail.com

I will put your name on the list, if you aren't on the list ya aren't getting in - well not really you can come but I just need the heads up first so we don't run outta the black stuff

pink panther smooth..

http://vimeo.com/25359637

a video about making a super v60

everyone needs to give niall a pat on the back, well done sir. 

 

another newby to add to the list

Clouds of August roasted in June.. in the Glasgow fog..

This afternoon another new coffee will be added to the board - Glasgow's turn as Edinburgh got this little beauty over the weekend! Jamie and myself roasted this for the first time on friday and it was such a pleasure. 

Like the name states its picked in August, the coffee is grown under heavy shade where they keep their own micro-climate due to the fact of shade and the absence of sunlight. The heat and wind lifting the clouds up and sending the precious moisture away is prevented by the shade and windbreaks and keeps the coffee in this area cool and moist.


All of these coffee trees were planted in 1931 and are Kent/Bourbon varietals. They had never been irrigated thus their root system reaches the deep volcanic soil layers. 


Picking starts at 8am. The pickers were instructed to pick only ripe coffee and were supervised to make sure that this happened. The task was set to 54 kg of cherries per picker, not ripe or over ripe cherries had to be sorted out by hand - the more experienced pickers were allowed to pick much more then the task and they made it up to 145 kg of 1st quality cherry. Picking stopped when the sun carried the mist away. 
The coffee was pulped in the afternoon and fermented for 14 hours then carried by people to the elevated sun drying tables until hours before grading and washing in the water channel. With a moisture content of 11.5% it was then finally conditioned in bins until transportation to Moshi.
Pulping is then carried out using zero water. Pulp transportation water is constantly recycled. This year a lot more water was used then the previous year for the 'Shade of September' - the reason is that there was much more sugar-mucilage in the cherry and 'Shade of September' was a very dry year and the sugar content was much lower. *part of the washing water was used for pulp transportation the next day.


The Coffee was transported on the 25.08.2010 to Rafiki coffee mill in Moshi and finally cured on the 22.10.2010.

This will be roasted this afternoon.

something to add to the last post:

email the club at: super.v60.club@gmail.com if you wanna come along ( I need numbers so I know how much coffee you lot will be drinking!). 

Sorry this meeting is members only but don't fret you can still can join the club, your chance will be around the start of july.. the date for that meeting will be posted closer to the time. 

The time is upon us geeks.

The first open night is on Sunday the 23^rd.

Kick off is at 7pm 

– Yup its kicking off late on a Sunday night and yup the caffeine overdose is going to make Monday morning all that more exciting/difficult! So have that chamomile tea at the ready for when you return on Sunday night.. as Fun and games await my geeks.

first bean/s

Here we are kids - I know you have been all chomping at the bit to find out what our new coffees are so here are 2 that will be roasted tomorrow afternoon for your weekend pleasure!

The first coffee on the list is my new favorite its rather complex but its such an interesting cup - we haven't had a coffee like this in for quite sometime!

First of the new coffees that will be available this weekend is Cafe Familia Mamani Mamani from Bolivia. Its grown by Husband and Wife team Mauricio Mamani Camacho and Lorenza Mamani Huanca (hence the name) on their small family farm in Bolivias Caranavi region – renowned for its high quality organic coffees.

Mauricio was born into the Aymara, an ancient indigenous group which lives on the Altiplano (a vast plateau of the central Andes stretching through southern Peru, Bolivia and into northern Chile and Argentina). He arrived in the Caranavi area 15 years ago, following the death of his Parents from yellow fever, and shortly afterwards brought this 13 hectare farm, some 30km from Caranavi town and 162km morth east of La Paz.

With the help of his wife Lorenza and latterly their 2 young children, he farms eight hectares of coffee, producing some 25 quintals (1q=46kg) of parchment coffee per hectare. The rest of his farm is planted out with citrus trees. The coffee grows at high altitude (1500-1700) in the shade of the native forest trees and is fully organic.

Mauricio used to sell his coffee to local markets as wet parchment – known locally as 'cafe enmoto' – but in recent years has started to dry his coffee himself, which allows him to get a far better price for his beans. The coffee cherries are hand-picked, pulped, fermented in small tanks, washed and then sun-dried on african beds (raised drying screens). Peak harvest time on the farm runs from May until July.

The second is something really special -its from Colombia. We haven't had a coffee from Colombia since 2009 (which was the La Manwela, it was a dream in a cold press!). In that year (2009) it had a really uncharacteristically intense dry season which severely affected the area, leading to major problems with Roya (fungus that dries the leaves and affects cherry production). A rise in average temperatures in the region - widely blamed on climate change – which is also prompting farmers to plant more shade trees (Guamo and Cachingo) to protect the coffee plants.

This unique microlot was produced by two small holder farmers - Rodrigo Lopez and Reinaldo Quinayas - in the parish of Alto del Obispo, high in the mountains of Colombia’s Huila department.

This bean was selected on the basis of its cup profile.

The Alto del Obispo area (literally, ‘The Bishop’s Hill‘) has been producing coffee for over a century. Most of its 300 or so families depend on coffee for their livelihood (coffee production accounts for some 90% of local income), which they produce on small family farms. Most families also grow a mix of yucca, plantain, dragon fruit and mango, and keep a few chickens and pigs, mainly for their own consumption. A few make a living from cattle farming.

The average coffee plantation is around 3 hectares in size and mainly farmed solely by the families that own them. Only during the main harvest season (October to December) are extra hands hired to help with the cherry picking process (usually three to four extra people). The coffee is mainly shade grown under the Guamo, a native fruit tree, and also the local Cachingo, a very broad-trunked tree that stores a high volume of water and so helps the soil to retain moisture. The farmers process their coffee themselves using the conventional washed process, where the cherries are pulped, filled with water in fermentation tanks and then washed and sun dried on ‘elvas’ (a local word for roof patios built on top of the farmer’s house). Some producers also dry on patios and African beds (raised screens).

Farms around Alto del Obispo are currently in the process of joining the government-led Good Agricultural Practices programme (Buenas Prácticas Agrícolas – BPA), an initiative that promotes environmental, economic and social sustainability. The programme’s aim is to improve both the quality of the crop and the health and wealth of the farmer, while protecting the local environment. 

These will be roasted tomorrow afternoon and ready for your drinking pleasure Friday afternoon (if your super keen) or Saturday - Glasgow only, Edinburgh you need to take a day trip! Also if anyone is around the CCA on Saturday I will be at Upmarket selling beans and v60 stuff as well as samples - get in there! 

welcome to the club

- Welcome new members - 

I'm currently putting together new dates and the date for the first club night. so keep drinking that black stuff and playing with brewing ideas in prep for the open club night!

super coffee

Our newest arrival of green beans arrived late last week - summer is finally here! (now the weather just has to catch up!). I start test roasting these little beauties next week - I'm so flipping excited! The first open club night will be given the first chance to have a go with a few of them at a super secret location - don't you wish you were part of the club now! 

I will be spilling the beans in the coming days with some information about the estates, roasting notes as well as tasting notes. 

Stay tuned in geeks...